Pre-Seed Tool Stack Example =========================== Slide 1: Pre-Seed Tool Stack Example Narration Anna: [upbeat] Welcome to our pre-seed stack tour—eleven slides to prove that discipline beats signing up for every shiny SaaS trial. Greg: Exactly. We are keeping the runway intact while still looking like grown-ups to customers, investors and auditors-in-training. Anna: Think of this session as giving Sarah a starter pack she can actually afford to run for six months. Greg: And it sets the tone for future upgrades—we are deliberate, not reactive. On-screen text Pre-Seed Tool Stack Example Stay lean without starving operations Slide 2: Why a curated pre-seed stack? Narration Anna: [curious] Before we jump into vendor logos, let's clarify why a curated stack matters. Greg: Every new hire brings their "game-changing" productivity app—suddenly you're managing more tools than team members. Anna: Worse, diligence calls expose the chaos when investors ask "who administers access" and the answer is "we'll get back to you". Greg: A lean, intentional toolkit gives Sarah language for governance without drowning in enterprise overhead. On-screen text Why a curated pre-seed stack? - Keeps the founding team focused on shipping product instead of chasing logins. - Shows investors and early customers you have basic governance covered. - Avoids the "try every tool" chaos that quietly burns $500+/month. - Creates artefacts—templates, rituals, admin settings—that scale into Series A. Slide 3: Runway guardrails Narration Anna: [pragmatic] Here are the guardrails—around two hundred dollars a month for six to eight active seats. Greg: That number keeps payroll sane while covering email, chat, documentation and security basics. Anna: Monthly billing matters; long contracts feel cheaper but they erode optionality if the product pivots—or dies. Greg: And track the bots—automation accounts often quietly consume paid licences like hungry ghosts in your billing system. On-screen text Runway guardrails - Budget baseline: ~$200/month for 6–8 active seats. - Optimise for tools that bundle multiple workflows (email + drive + calendar). - Prefer monthly billing until product-market fit is clearer. - Track true cost-to-serve: count founders, contractors and bots that consume paid seats. - Typical trap: founder signs up for Asana, designer wants Figma, engineer prefers Jira—suddenly you're burning $150/month on tools that do not sync. Slide 4: Communication & identity core Narration Anna: [informative] Google Workspace Starter gives us admin controls, shared drives and basic DLP for seventy-two dollars. Greg: Pair that with Slack Pro so conversations are searchable and partners can join via shared channels without legal headaches. Anna: We hold off on enterprise SSO because no customer has demanded it yet—that's the upgrade trigger. Greg: And if someone insists on Microsoft 365, document migration time, identity mapping, data residency shifts and the training burden before agreeing—you might discover it's a $10K decision disguised as a $20/month subscription. On-screen text Communication & identity core - Google Workspace Business Starter – $72: email, calendar, Drive with basic admin controls. - Slack Pro – $54: async conversations, searchable history, guest channels. - Decision cue: stay on Starter/Pro tiers until customers demand SSO or retention beyond 90 days. - If procurement pushes for Microsoft 365 parity, document the total migration lift before agreeing. - Capture GDPR and Australian Privacy Act considerations early, including where primary data resides and which regions host backups. Slide 5: Knowledge & project heartbeat Narration Anna: [thoughtful] Notion handles company wiki, retrospectives and investor updates for thirty-two dollars—just remember it can become a black hole where documentation goes to die without clear structure. Greg: Airtable fills the structured gap—a light CRM and operations tracker without buying a full Salesforce instance. Anna: The discipline is resisting app sprawl; we build new workflows inside these tools before swiping cards elsewhere. Greg: Also audit the editor list monthly—lots of contributors only need viewer seats, and embed onboarding SOPs so new hires ramp fast. On-screen text Knowledge & project heartbeat - Notion Plus – $32: shared wiki, lightweight project tracking, investor update templates. - Airtable Team – $20: structured CRM-lite, partnership pipeline, lightweight inventory tracking. - Resist the urge to split into six niche apps; combine databases and pages before expanding. - Revisit seat counts monthly—viewers can stay free while editors hold licences. - Build standard operating procedures and onboarding playbooks here so new hires land smoothly within week one. Slide 6: Security & access hygiene Narration Anna: [serious] Security cannot wait until Series A, so 1Password anchors secrets management for twenty-four dollars. Greg: We capture onboarding checklists inside the vault—who gets which shared vault, when MFA is confirmed, what to rotate. Anna: Hardware keys and CASBs are overkill today; instead we enable context-aware access inside Google Workspace. Greg: The win is standardising joiner, mover and leaver flows so offboarding is muscle memory—otherwise that three-month contractor still has Drive access half a year later. On-screen text Security & access hygiene - 1Password Teams Starter – $24: vault per function, onboarding checklists, emergency access. - Enforce hardware security keys via Google Advanced Protection only after a high-risk trigger. - Enable Google Workspace context-aware access instead of buying a dedicated CASB this early. - Document joiner/mover/leaver steps in Notion to make offboarding a 10-minute ritual. - Scenario: contractor Sarah offboards a dev, but without the checklist they keep Drive access six months later—privacy review nightmare. Slide 7: Optional add-ons when justified Narration Anna: [balanced] Some add-ons are worth the spend, but only when the pain point is measurable. Greg: Calendly saves hours once demos exceed ten a week—otherwise you've spent money to schedule meetings you haven't had yet. Anna: Payroll platforms like Gusto or Rippling become necessary when contractor invoices arrive monthly. Greg: And a support desk like Freshdesk only earns its keep when shared inbox triage starts missing customer deadlines; double-check the API and SSO hooks first so you don't rack up integration debt. On-screen text Optional add-ons when justified - Calendly Teams (pay-per-user) once demo volume >10/week and founders become scheduling bottlenecks—because nobody wants to spend more time scheduling meetings than having them. - Gusto or Rippling contractor payroll when payments exceed quarterly manual workflows. - Freshdesk Growth if support volume surpasses shared inbox discipline. - Map API/SSO integrations before adding tools so automation flows stay intact and you avoid integration debt. - Tie every add-on to a measurable pain point with a sunset review date. Slide 8: Moments to resist the upsell Narration Anna: [cautious] Upsell pressure is relentless, so we script polite "not yet" responses. Greg: Slack's enterprise team will dangle grid analytics—Sarah waits until a signed enterprise contract demands exports. Anna: Google will email about storage limits; that upgrade happens only when the current quota truly blocks delivery. Greg: And any so-called founder discount tied to 24-month commitments gets weighed against runway reduction and pivot risk—remember the Enterprise rep boasting 99.99% uptime when your Pro plan already meets every SLA. On-screen text Moments to resist the upsell - Slack enterprise grid demo? Decline until a signed enterprise customer mandates compliance exports. - Google Workspace upgrade emails? Stay put until storage or legal hold needs are real. - Vendors offering "founder discounts" for 24-month commitments—compare to the cash runway impact. - When a board advisor insists on a tool, ask them to map the exact control gap it closes. - Example: Slack touts 99.99% uptime on Enterprise, but your Pro plan already meets customer SLAs—keep the cash. Slide 9: Customise without losing discipline Narration Anna: [encouraging] Customisation is fine as long as the budget guardrail survives. Greg: If Sarah swaps Google for Microsoft 365 because the product uses Azure AD, she documents the rationale and new admin tasks. Anna: Same story with replacing Airtable—maybe HubSpot Starter makes sense once marketing automation matters. Greg: Every substitution goes into a single source of truth covering billing owners, renewal dates, data export paths and how to unwind vendor lock-in. On-screen text Customise without losing discipline - Swap Google Workspace for Microsoft 365 only if your product already depends on Azure AD. - Replace Airtable with HubSpot Starter when marketing automation is a priority. - Document why each substitution preserves the $200/month guardrail. - Keep a single source of truth for domains, billing owners and renewal dates. - Maintain exit plans: note export formats, backup cadence and how you unwind vendor lock-in before upgrading. Slide 10: Workshop exercise for learners Narration Anna: [interactive] Time to apply it: learners craft their own six-tool stack under two hundred and fifty dollars. Greg: They justify each pick, list the upgrade trigger and nominate an owner for governance. Anna: Sharing that "stay lean" checklist with peers invites constructive pushback before real money gets spent. Greg: It's rehearsal for the boardroom question: "Why this tool, why now, and what happens if it fails?" On-screen text Workshop exercise for learners - Draft your own six-tool stack under $250/month and justify each choice. - Identify the trigger that would force an upgrade or extra tool. - Note which roles (founder, ops lead, fractional CTO) own configuration and governance. - Present back with a "stay lean" checklist to pressure-test with peers. Slide 11: Key takeaway Narration Anna: [confident] The takeaway is simple—startups win when every tool purchase has a runway impact statement. Greg: Collaboration, knowledge, security and customer touchpoints are covered without losing agility. Anna: Treat each new app as an experiment with success criteria and an exit plan. Greg: That mindset protects cash, keeps audits boring and leaves room to scale when product-market fit finally lands. On-screen text Key takeaway Start with a deliberate, budget-conscious stack that covers collaboration, knowledge, security and customer touchpoints. Treat every new tool as an experiment with an exit plan so cash burn stays aligned with runway.